OECD Secretary-General

OECD's Gurría mourns death of economist Angus Maddison

26/4/2010 - OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría lamented the recent death of the distinguished British economist Angus Maddison, who held a number of senior posts at the OECD and its fore-runner, the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation, between 1953 and 1978.

Mr. Maddison, born in 1926, was Emeritus Professor of Economic Growth and Development at the University of Groningen and authored more than 20 books.

His collaboration with the OECD continued until the last moment, particularly through the landmark studies The World Economy: A Millienial Perspective and Historical Statistics and Chinese Economic Performance in the Long Run, 960-2030 A.D., published by the OECD Development Centre

“The OECD family is very sad to lose one of its most brilliant members,” Mr. Gurría said. “Prof. Maddison served in this house during many years and left us some extraordinary works.”

“His authoritative studies on China’s economic growth during the past two millennia and his analyses on the long-run performance of nations and their interactions within the world economy have been invaluable contributions to the discipline of economic history. We will miss him.”